122. 11001001FORMULA: (The Big Goodbye + By Any Other Name) x2
WHY WE LIKE IT: Minuet is SMOKIN' HOT!
WHY WE DON'T: Worst countdown clock ever.
REVIEW: A real winner. By showing us what the crew does for rest and relaxation, we learn a lot more about their characters than something like The Naked Now, where their wildest dreams take over. The various character moments really work, such as Data learning to paint (taught by a blind man), Yar (surprisingly bearable) and Worf going for sports (Worf is finding his sense of humor), Crusher's indulging a school girl crush (is it me, or is she desperately lonely?), and of course, Riker's love of jazz and trombone playing. This is the kind of stuff that stays with a character for the run of the show.
But you need a plot! This one's pretty good, despite the absence of an actual villain (or perhaps because of it). The Bynars' plan is fairly ingenious, and you get a sense that they did outwit the crew, not that the crew was dumbed down to allow it to happen. The Bynar predicament is fairly original (at least, for the time) even if their duplicity doesn't really need Troi to be detected. Their greatest achievement, however, is Minuet. Wow, that's a stellar performance by Carolyn McCormick, very sexy, and surprisingly natural. She does a good job of having US fall for her as much as Riker does (mangled French aside). It's too bad she could never be a recurring character.
The episode also features some movie-quality visuals of the docking at the space station, and the direction has flair, such as during the sequence in the empty halls of the Enterprise. The self-destruct sequence isn't played for much tension, but more procedural in function. I'm fine with that, though the verbal codes from the original series and movies were more involving.
LESSON: Make back-ups of your files!
REWATCHABILITY - High: Totally memorable. In my opinion, this is where the actors really get into their groove, with the characters finally emerging as fully-realized people.
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